Happy Place | April Studio AE Blog Hop From Technique Tuesday

Welcome to the April Studio AE Blog Hop From Technique Tuesday.

Technique Tuesday offers a monthly stamp club that features a limited edition stamp set designed by me each month. You can check out past stamp sets (some are still available) here.

This month's stamp set: Good Times

DIGITAL MEMORY KEEPER? | A similar set of digital word art is available here: No Day Like Today Brushes and Stamps

Here's a look at the 2-page, 8.5x11 layout I created this month:

Sometimes it's fun to do a layout that has no photos.

This one ended up with one very small image but could have just as easily had none. Scrapbooks don't have to include photos. There are lots of times we have stories to tell and potentially no photos to go along with them - definitely doesn't discount the story!

This spread is all about some of the things I love about this home.

Can you guess what motivated me to tell this story? I keep thinking of all the things I want to change here (paint all the walls white, rip out the carpet and add hardwood in the upstairs, take down some of the cabinets in the kitchen and add more windows, repaint the exterior, etc - things I've been talking about and wanting forever but just haven't been able to swing yet) and I was starting to get really obsessed with it and it was making me grumpy. So I decided to make a list of the things I love about it right now rather than wishing for it to be something else.

It's all about #gratitude my friends.

I don't think I've documented just how thankful I am for this house and the shelter and comfort it has provided me over the last few years.

I totally enjoyed the process of putting this layout together. Here's a look at how this layout progressed:

STEP ONE | Place that awesome large circle sticker from Me And My Big Ideas along the top of the page. These new packs of really big stickers are definitely a new favorite for me - especially because I've long been a fan of big type on my layouts.

STEP TWO | Draw a grid to create homes for the embellishments and words. I used a silver metallic marker. Doesn't have to be perfect or straight or anything like that. Just draw.

STEP THREE | Start picking and choosing some embellishments and laying them out.

STEP FOUR | Choose three squares for the Good Times stamps. I used Bahama Blue ink from Memento Luxe. I spread them out a bit knowing I was going to be adding words.

STEP FIVE | Add the title along the bottom. As you can see I ran out of the first chipboard letter stickers I was using. Ha. So I ended up just adding in some others that were the same font but had different finishes on the top.

STEP SIX | Create 5 circle tags and add a chipboard number to each one to indicate you are starting a new journaling thought. I also used a small one-inch circle punch to punch out a couple pattern circles that were placed behind the chipboard numbers (this punch cuts circles just right to fit inside those metal rimmed circle tags).

STEP SEVEN | Start entering your journaling. At first I thought I was going to do 10 things and then decided to do 5 and be able to write a little bit more by continuing my journaling either across or down into the next square. I started in the top row of boxes and first went across (for #1). I just journaled in each box and then moved into the next box (vs. writing across two boxes).

As you can see I also can't stop underlining my journaling.

STEP EIGHT | Continue your journaling and add in a few more embellishments as you work your way across and down the pages.

STEP NINE | You might choose to add a small photo to one of the boxes. I also added the date using a rolling date stamp along the left side right under the big circle sticker.

I love how this spread turned out.

Here's a few close up shots of the spread and the journaling. Click on each photo to make it bigger:

The little word stickers (and the yellow letter stickers) I used around the page are all from this sticker sheet from Simple Stories: Hopespun.

Ah, the XO.

Still in love with this set of stickers from Amy Tan: Black Foam Phrase Twins.

I also just used a black pen to draw some lines and dots on the chipboard letters.

A NOTE ABOUT BREAKING "RULES" | I'm not generally big on creative "rules" but there are a few things I usually don't do when creating a layout (good topic for a future post). One of those things is that I don't usually spread journaling across two pages like I did on this one. To be honest it just sort of happened and then I went with it even though it's not great when I put it in the page protectors. I got too excited about working within that grid.

ACTION ITEMS/IDEAS

• Journal 5-10 things you love about your home - no matter what you want to change about it - right now.


• Create a layout that includes a hand-drawn grid. Embrace the imperfection.


• Make a layout with no photos.

SUPPLIES

Click on the images to jump to the products.

CREATIVE TEAM

Check out what our Creative Team is doing with the stamps this month:

• Laura


• Ashley


• Nichol


• Daniela


• Teri

GIVEAWAY | We are going to give away one $25 e-Gift Card to TechniqueTuesday.com to someone who comments during the hop. To be eligible to win, all you need to do is comment on any of our blog posts! The lucky winner will be announced on the 21st on the Technique Tuesday blog.